ANTI-GUN GROUP GIVES HEALEY HER OWN ‘PEACE’
AG recognized for firearm control effort
Attorney General Maura Healey received a “Peace Award” for her gun-control efforts last night.
The Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence selected Healey for the Third Annual Peace MVP Award based on her work since taking over the Attorney General’s office, which includes banning the sale of so-called “copycat” assault rifles, and efforts to have gun violence treated as a public health risk.
“Gun advocates love to tell me that I should mind my own business and just enforce the laws on the books,” she told the crowd at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley. “You saw what happened when I tried to do that with the assault weapons ban, but that is what I’m doing. Massachusetts has some of the toughest laws on the books. That’s one of the reasons we consistently have one of the lowest per capita gun death rates in the country.”
She said her office has successfully defended legal challenges to allow people with felony convictions, firearms convictions, and domestic violence convictions from getting a license to carry a firearm.
The Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence was formed after the shootings in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 children and six adults dead. The group is currently opposing efforts to legalize the sale of silencers for firearms, and pushing for a law that would give police, doctors, and caregivers the ability to have a person’s firearms removed if they are found to pose a threat to themself or another, said cofounder Angus McQuilken.